Sri Lankan President Anura Kumara Dissanayake’s coalition took an early lead in parliamentary elections seen as a test of the leftist leader’s ambitious pledges to combat corruption and change the terms of an unpopular International Monetary Fund bailout.

The sweeping mandate to the left coalition underlines widening support for his leftist policies, giving him the power to push through his plans to fight poverty and graft in the island nation struggling to emerge from the worst financial crisis.

New Sri Lankan President Anura Kumara Dissanayake's party was set for a landslide victory in snap legislative elections, initial results showed Friday. With more than half the ballots in Thursday's parliamentary elections counted,